What's up, guys?
Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.com.
So I want to show you today why it's not just a good thing to use lighter weights, but why
it's a very important thing to use lighter weights if you want to develop your best back.
It all comes down to the fact that I'm going to guarantee that when you do your back exercises,
you never, ever fully contract your back.
There's a big reason for it.
When you're doing your pushing exercises think about what's on the other end of most every,
single rep of a pushing exercise you do.
You can see me doing a dip right here.
When I get to the top there's a moment of actual relief here.
I could actually hold the top position of a dip better than I could any other position
of that exercise.
Same thing goes here for the bench-press.
The bench-press, if we can get to the end, I can lock out my arms, and I could actually
hold it there.
The same thing happens here on the shoulder press.
When I get to the end of that rep I can actually hold it there.
There's a moment of relief.
There's a light at the end of the tunnel.
But now, when you look at an exercise like the lat pulldown, or we look at a one-armed
row – like I'm going to show you here also.
What is at the end of that?
More pain, more discomfort, more struggle because what we're trying to do is fight this
contraction.
I've got to pull down, and when I'm down here my body wants to get out of here as fast as
possible.
What I'm telling you is, forgoing that is costing you an opportunity to get better development
in your back.
So lighten the weight a little bit.
Not for all of your work.
It's okay to use some of the heavier sets, obviously, to increase the tension and the
overload, but you have to include lighter weights.
I'm going to enforce that by doing two techniques here I'm going to show you.
Now, when I come down I don’t just want to bring it to here, which a lot of guys will
do.
I want to get it down, all the way as far as I possibly could.
Get the strongest contraction I possibly could in my back, squeezing my elbows down, and
to my sides.
You can see those lats activated.
Well, what we can do is, the first technique is one and a half reps.
I've used it before, especially with our shoulder training, with the side delt exercise.
We come up half way, I reinforce it, and then I've got to do it again, and then I come up.
So down, squeeze, up, and bring it right back down again.
And up.
Down, up halfway, right back down again.
Do a few sets of these – I'm using light weight and it feels a hell of a lot heavier
because I'm just not used to A) getting that contraction; and B)
having to reinforce and do it again.
The next technique we can use is a fiber blast, which is basically a pulse rep at the end
of a contraction.
So what it looks like again now is, we don’t come back halfway.
What we do is, we go down to the back, here, and then we go in with pulse contraction.
Down, down, and down again.
And I'm hoping to – if I haven't got there in the first one – here, one, two, three.
It gives me the opportunity to reinforce, and get a better contraction with the pulse
at the end.
One, two, three, and up.
Remember, I said I could do it here on a one-armed row, too.
Same thing applies.
You do a one-armed row and your body is doing everything it can to keep this dumbbell back
down on the ground because the end position of the rep is difficult.
There is no relief.
There is no break at the end of every rep.
So what you want to do is lighten the weight, get up there, really focus on getting your
elbow back behind your body, get a good, strong contraction.
And we can use the same thing.
Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze if you're using the fiber blast, or up, down halfway, and
back up again.
Up, halfway, and drive it up again.
So remember, it's not just about always using heavy weights.
I'm a big believer in using heavy weights to create the overload and tension necessary,
but you have to use lighter weights if you want maximum development.
This is exactly the reason why, especially, when it comes to back training because of
the nature of how the exercises stack up, and what happens with our bodies against gravity
when we finish every exercise.
Guys, if you're looking for a program that puts the science back in strength, allows
you to train with these types of tips so you get more out of every workout you do; head
to ATHLEANX.com right now and get our ATHLEANX training program.
In the meantime, if you've found the video helpful leave your comments and thumbs up
below.
Let me know what you want me to cover in a future video and I'll do my best to do that.
All right, guys.
See you soon.